Vehicle indicator



Jan. 30, 1945. s. HUNTER VEHICLE INDICATOR Filed NOV. 18, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 0. 1945. s. HUNTER v ,3

VEHI CLE INDICATOR Filed Nov. 18, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENITOR. l. y)/ e a/e Hun/er A r roe/vars Jam 30, 1945. G. HUNTER VEHICLE INDICATOR Filed NOV. 18, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Jan. 30, 1945 umreo PATENT OFFICE I VEHICLE INDICATOR. I

fiytleiGalle Hunt r; Fl 'ushin'g,.N. Y., vas'sig'iioi to TheHuntm- Illiim-ihated oar Sign Inez, Flushing- N Y4, a; corporation 'of"Ne'w York 'A'ppl i cation-l qovexnlier. 18, 1940; Serial No: 366N737- 3 cleans. (01. 40+95) .This inventionrelates to) a novel. and improved. I

form. ofv vehicle indicator... The: novel features: will be best understood. from: the,- following de scription and the annexed drawings, ire-which I have. shown a, selected. embodiment-of the invention and which;

Fig.1 l. is a. rear. view ofv the. illustrated embodiment. of. the. indicator, taken. approximately onv thev line '|-l ofIFig. 2', lwith partsbeing. omitted; Fig.v 2' is. a. top. View of the: structure appearing in Fig. 1;. I

Fig. 3Ji's aview on anenlargedscaletaken approximately 011 the line ilk-31' of Fig.2; butwith V the sign. web omitted} g I Fig. 4isa view of part of the. apparatuslshown in Fig; 3; butiin. different position; I I

Fig; dis a view approximately onthe. li'ne 5'-5 of Fig. 3, but showing, one. ofthe. webirollers. in. position; I

Fig; 6 is a'viewjapproximatelyon the, line 6--6. of Fig; 3;but showing a's'ub-frame in partly re.- movedzposition;

Fig. 7 is arviewon an enlargedscale taken. on a-pl'ane parallel'to the'plane of Fig. 1 arid'showing' the, structure" at the right-hand end; of" that figure; this? plane being" indicated? approximately. by-theline T"-1 ofFi'g; 9i Fig. 8 is a view taken approximately.- on. the line"8*-8-of '"Figi 7i" Fig. 9 is a; view" taken approximately on the" Referring-first toFigs: 1' and12," I have shown therein a frame I" whichmay be" any suitable; part of the frame of a vehicle and which; supports a route-sign 2 and a'- destination" sign" 3'." These signs-are"changeableand aresh'ownfin the form of webs; asis-'commonfin1the'arti' Ill. any place; forexamplea' large city, where it is desirable to use a vehicle, such as'a bus, on

differentroutes; as problem arises in regard to providing a sufiicient number of signs so that the vehicle may be used on any route. Usually a web may be conveniently made of sufficient length to contain all of the route designations without that length becoming prohibitive. Howi ever, on any route on which the vehicle travels,

there may be, and usually are, several destinations. This means that the length of a web carrying destination signs would have to be impracticably long in order-to show all the destinations for use on all routes on which the vehicle is to be used. This problem'I have solved by the arrangement which will now be described.

Mounted on the frame I is a sign box having a wall 4ewhichg. as best 'showne in Figsa; 7,. 8;: and 9; is providedwithai flange I." which may lochwith aflange 5 on the frame I. The: wall-e of: t s; oppflsitefthei flange 4' engages? a fastener" I:

I which may be hinged? to? the frame as: at 8'" so that, after the flanges; 4'. and 5 have" been brought into engagement}. the fastener may? be. brought into con-tact; withfthe wall 6;. asabest shown in Fig 8;. anct thni the boxma be clamped. in position" by. engaging: the? top thereof with an ear 9a hinged at, m tozthez top of: the fas j tener 1. ear is;themclamped to: thei'toppfl the: box by a: suitablelclamping device: lal clamping; device; I lcomprisess a headed bol-t: H equipped at the opposite? end from said: head with a: helical notch: H This notch is" adapted to engage with spring l|.. NOtChi-lli is so con): structed'. that upon turning: bolt- H when the notch is "engaged with the*springil'il: ,i-the s-pringi will tra el dowmto'the lower'portioni ofitheinotcht: and-be held=thereinasoi that the: flangefl isgyield ably held-i in: engagement -with the". sign box;

In the box are mounted" rollers; here shown; as: four in-number,r one pair 01%. rollers which are designated l-Zr having a: web- I Bi-thereon and the other pair of 1OHeIS?WhiOh are designated}, having agsecondiweb l-5-mounted thereon. Suit: ablegeartrains. indicated: generally at F6 andr operable by hand-lest I1; may; rotate the: rollers--- ina manner k-nownrin the; art, toi 'ca-use the 'websto. pass. a, window [8: I It; willbeunderstoodethat v the-webs l3-an d- I5 are changeable; signsfwhich may be used to "carry any desired route des-igenations-thereon. For example the. web-- Ht may carry different letters. of the-alphabet, whereas:- thelfweb I 5;- may carry variouse numbers; all; de pendinguponthe:- system used ini the particular" place wherethe. vehicle is-employedt; It the number. of routes. is more i thantcant-ba conveniently. placed upon practicable lengths of webs, then the entire box may be removed and another box put into its place, this other box carrying webs with different route designations thereon. Ordin'arily, however, the two webs will be suflicient to carry all necessary route designations.

The box may be held in correct position lengthwise of the frame by suitable guides I9 which are mounted on the frame I and are flared outwardly at their ends, as best shown in Fig. 9.

. The changeable destination sign is in the form of a web 20 supported on rollers 2|, on the spindles of which are gears 22 meshing with other gears of a gear train, best shown in Fig. 3 and which is indicated generally by the numeral 23. This train'may be operated by-a handle 24 sohaving an ear 30 hinged thereto at 3|.

as to turn the gears 22 in opposite directions and thus wind the web in opposite directions. Normally one of the gears 22 will be connected to the spindle of its roller by a spring so as to maintain the web 20 under the spring tension. Such an arrangement is well-known in the art and, since its details are not necessary to an understanding of this invention, those details will not be described.

The gears 22 are mounted in a sub-frame which may take any suitable form, but which is here shown as two parallel plates 25 fastened together by tubes 26, and this sub-frame may be held in position on the frame I between a bracket 21 extending rearwardly from the frame and a fastener 28 hinged to the frame at 29 and Flanges 21 hold the sub-frame against vertical movement. This ear 3!) may be folded over a flange 32 on one of the plates 25 and one element 33 on the ear may engage another element 3 on the flange to hold the sub-frame in position. The spring notch for holding the ear in place is like the spring notch H heretofore described.

The gears 22 will be disposed adjacent one of the plates 25, as shown in Fig. 6', and this plate has an inwardly extending flange 35 upon which are mounted two spring arms 36, the resiliency of which tends to hold the ends thereof in engagement with the gears 22, as shown in Fig. 4. Accordingly, when the sub-frame is disconnected from theframe, these gears 22 will be held against rotation by the arms, and the web supported by. the rollers to which these two gears are attached will be held under the same tension as when the gears 22'are in engagement with the gear train 23.

.On the bracket 2'! are shown two inwardly extending cam. and centering pins 31 which are so arranged as to pass through two holes38 in one of the plates 25 and at the same time to move the spring arms 36 out of engagement with th gears 22, as shown in Fig. 3.

In Fig. 6, I have shown the sub-frame as in a position where it has just been moved out of engagement with the pins 31 or is about to be enga ed thereby. The rrangement is such that,

when the sub-frame is being put in operative position on the frame I, the spring arms36 will hold the gears 22 against rotation until these gears engage the gear train 23 and then the pins 3'! will unlock the gears 22 by engaging the spring arms 36.

By the above arrangement it is possible to use a vehicle on any number of routes, and any route or a group of routes may have a changeable destination sign mounted on a sub-frame so that it may be readily changed. For example, in a large city it is sometimes the practice to send busses from one section of the city to another to take care of varying traflic loads and usually each section of the city has a central headquarters. By my invention it is possible for each 5 of these headquarters to have on hand a set of changeable destination signs in the form of webs, with each web mounted on rollers in a sub-frame and always held under tension. Then before the bus is sent to another headquarters, 10 the destination sign may be removed and when it arrives at the other headquarters a new destination sign may easily be put in place. In any case the changeable destination sign is displayed through a suitable window 39 and may be readily l5 removed and replaced by another. At the same time the destination signs may be removed and replaced if necessary, although oftentimes such necessity will not arise.

While I have shown the invention as embodied 20 in a specific form, it is to be understood that various changes in details may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A vehicle indicator comprising a frame having an aperture therein, a sign box removably carried on the frame, the sign in said box being aligned with the aperture in the frame, complep mentary interlocking flanges on the frame and 3'0-on the sign box, said complementary interlocking flanges being constructed and arranged to support the sign box on the frame, and fastening means secured to the frame and adapted to be brought into engagement with the sign box 10 removably clamp the sign box in place, said fastening means adapted to prevent separation of said complementary flanges when the fastening means is in locked position.

2. A vehicle indicator comprising a frame having an aperture therein, a flange carried by the frame across the top of said aperture, a sign box having a complemental flange engaging with the flange on the frame to removably support ,the sign box on the frame with the sign in alignment with the aperture, and spring means for re movably clamping the sign box in position on the frame.

3. A vehicle indicator comprising a frame having an aperture therein, a flange carried by the frame, a sign box having a flange engaging with the flange on the frame whereby the sign box is removably supported on the fram with the sign in alignment with the aperture, means for removably clamping the sign box in position on the frame comprising a readily movable member hinged to the frame, and a spring fastening device adapted to hold said member in engagement with said sign box.

LYTLE GALE HUNTER. 

